


Nice Things

by grimcognito



Series: These Losers [5]
Category: Eyeshield 21
Genre: Angry Boys Being Soft, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Napping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23024944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimcognito/pseuds/grimcognito
Summary: Hiruma overthinks the basics of a healthy relationship and Rui once again sleeps through it.
Relationships: Habashira Rui/Hiruma Youichi
Series: These Losers [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/869826
Comments: 11
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

Hiruma was a lot of things. Driven, relentless, 'a cruel bastard' if other people were describing him, 'effective' if he was describing himself. But no one could claim he was touchy. Even when he was hitting someone, he preferred a good kick with a cleat to the rear over a punch or shove. Even better was firing shot from a distance and making his prey do a little dance or suddenly find a burst of energy they claimed they didn't have. Unless he was looming to make them uncomfortable, Hiruma didn't much like people in his space. So it came as a surprise to him that not only he didn't mind, but actually _enjoyed_ Rui dismissing the concept of personal space once they'd begun dating. 

Rui, unlike Hiruma, turned out to be touchy as hell. It had taken Hiruma all of five seconds to connect the dots and figure out that Rui was a classic case of a tough-acting, touch-starved little punk. What a fucking easy mark. He'd make fun of the chameleon about it, except it turns out he's made himself into just as easy a target. The one time he pointed out how handsy Rui was, the damn lizard had stopped touching him altogether with a simple, "Ah shit, sorry, I know you don't like people touchin' you."

Hiruma would never admit it, even under pain of death, but he hadn't even lasted ten minutes before snatching up Rui's hand and dragging him close again. He didn't like people in his space, and he sure as hell didn't like anyone assuming they had the right or the nerve to put their hands on him, but for some bizarre reason, he had a gangly-armed, Rui-shaped exception to his rules. And if his boyfriend wanted to fuckin' cuddle, then Hiruma was going to be the goddamn best he'd ever had, exactly like he'd told him from the start. He just hadn't expected to enjoy it as much as he did. Rui seemed delighted at the turn of events, taking full advantage of Hiruma's permission to invade his personal space, apparently determined to leech off Hiruma's excess heat along with his affection. 

_Someone so active in sports shouldn't have such fucking awful blood circulation,_ Hiruma thought to himself as Rui's cold fingers curled against his side. Rui was already out like a light, breathing out soft gusts of warm air against Hiruma's collarbone, curled up against his side with an arm and a leg thrown over Hiruma like a half-assed weighted blanket. He refused to admit it was kind of comforting. It was late afternoon and Hiruma wasn't tired, had no reason to indulge in Rui's request to lay down together, yet here he was. They hadn't even had sex either, not once since getting together. Hiruma didn't care much either way, he had two hands and a vivid imagination, but Rui got cagey anytime it seemed like things were going in that direction, so Hiruma hadn't pushed the subject. He could tackle that particular subject with his usual subtlety and grace another day.

So why, if he wasn't getting anything out of it, did Hiruma keep saying yes to this? He crossed his ankles and tapped an absent beat against the skin of Rui's arm across his chest as he stared up at the ceiling. He wasn't worried about waking his boyfriend up, Rui slept like the dead and it would take a lot more than that to get a response. Hiruma didn't sleep much in general, around six hours a night on a good day, and laying around in bed just drove him up the wall with restlessness, yet here he was, with nothing to do while the overgrown lizard was draped over him, yet somehow not bothered by the usual itch under his skin of uneasy boredom. 

He glanced over at the clock and noted that it'd been a half hour so far, another thirty minutes and he'd shake Rui awake to demand some food. Normally, ten minutes in and he'd be snarling to get away and do something other than just lie still, but something about the weight over his chest and legs, the even breaths against his collarbone, and the steady heartbeat he could feel if he shifted his arm just so in the pocket of warmth between their bodies, seemed to muffle the usual clamor of his brain. It didn't make him sleepy, and he was a little bored--currently wishing he'd grabbed his phone from the charger before Rui trapped his other arm under dead weight--but he also wasn't in any hurry to move. 

It was... _nice._

He let the word roll around in his head, looking at it from every angle suspiciously, but there wasn't really any other way to describe it. Like when they held hands, or Hiruma went out of his way to drop off a lunch for Rui because the idiot never remembered to pack one and didn't have enough time to go buy one on his break. Like when Rui slipped an arm around his waist, or pressed in close for a hug when they were alone, or laughed for real, all brash and loud and joyous. Hiruma wasn't used to having that sort of low simmering happiness as a constant, a comfort he didn't have to bleed and sweat for or pry out with force. It was just there, as long as he didn't completely screw it up. Thank fuck Rui understood his particular brand of affection and gave back as good as he got. 

He glanced at the clock again, twenty minutes to go. Rui was snoring softly, and somewhere down the street kids were playing, he could hear the distant shrieks of laughter. The fridge was humming again. There were things he could be doing; watching the recordings of the latest American football league matches he'd gotten his hands on, checking to see if his last blackmail victim was actually doing what they were told, even paying his utility bills or starting on a batch of fried rice to clear out his leftovers. Instead, he shifted, wiggling a bit to tuck himself further under Rui's weight and getting a sleepy mumble in return. 

"Go back to sleep." He said, once he'd gotten comfortable. 

Rui let out a little hum that turned into a snore, already gone.

Hiruma flexed the fingers of the hand that had been trapped, trying to get rid of the annoying tingle, before wrapping his arm around Rui's waist, his boyfriend now more on top of him than not. He blinked slowly at the ceiling, noting that the patch of sunlight from the window had moved and feeling strangely content. 

_Nice._ He thought again, testing out the edges of it. _I can work with nice._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For once, Rui isn't the one sleeping through a revelation.

Hiruma is a light sleeper, Rui knows this. They're nearly exact opposites when it comes to sleep. Rui loved it, and slept like a rock, happily bundled in his bed and warm blankets or on the couch with Hiruma acting as a personal furnace. Hiruma on the other hand slept like he only did it out of spiteful necessity, going to bed late and waking up early. When he did sleep, it didn't take much to wake him. 

For some reason, he still says yes whenever Rui asks him to join in on the occasional afternoon nap. Rui knew he didn't sleep, and often dozed off to the faint sound of Hiruma tapping his phone screen, but he also knew Hiruma wouldn't hesitate to turn the offer down if he didn't want to be there. He did his best not to think about that, because if he did, then his chest would get all tight and fluttery and he'd end up smiling at nothing like an idiot.

Hiruma does a lot of things Rui never would have expected. He'd thought dating the devil incarnate would be more like a short-lived stint that would result in a whole lot more blackmail material in Hiruma's little book, honestly. And if it weren't for the infamous reputation and past experiences that leant all evidence in his favor, Rui might have felt guilty about thinking it. 

But instead of using the things he discovered about Rui to humiliate him, (at least, not on any real scale of importance. Hiruma was still an asshole and made fun of everything Rui did, but at least he evened it out with shared secrets of his own, and surprisingly nice kisses) Hiruma took them to heart. He hadn't once aimed a gun his way after Rui had called him out on it, he adjusted to Rui's need for closeness, and though Rui suspected he did it more as a challenge and was keeping a secret score, Hiruma could be surprisingly romantic. In his own way.

It made Rui wonder what exactly Hiruma was getting out of the deal. Food, for one, because Hiruma was good at a lot of things, but he was a pretty shit cook unless he was making the basics. Which meant if they weren't buying meals, Rui usually cooked. He liked how relaxing it was, and he had enough self awareness to recognize why he liked a task where he got instant results from his efforts. Whatever, that was between him and the therapist he'd go to during his midlife crisis. Right now it meant Hiruma got regular homemade meals, someone to confide in if he chose to (a rare occasion, but it did happen), but what else? Sooner or later Hiruma was bound to ask about sex, frankly Rui was surprised it hadn't happened, but he wasn't ready for that conversation. Not yet. Thankfully, Hiruma hadn't pushed him on it, and Rui was sure he had his boyfriend's freakishly good perceptiveness to thank for it.

Rui didn't like to think about how little he brought to the table in this relationship, because it made his chest tight and fluttery for completely different reasons. Hiruma was wickedly smart, he liked to break down puzzles and rebuild them solved to his satisfaction. Rui had no illusions that he was complex enough to keep Hiruma's attention for long, yet here they were. He knew Hiruma had feelings for him, he did. But some days he couldn't help but wonder why. 

He never bothered to ask himself the same thing.

He normally kept these sort of looping thoughts at bay with various tasks, keeping his hands busy meant keeping his mind clear, but it wasn't an option at the moment. Right now, Rui was sitting very still, fighting the urge to tap his foot or spin his knife, because Hiruma was asleep with his head on Rui's lap.

It wasn’t unusual for Hiruma to use Rui as a prop, often leaning his weight against him if they were sitting close enough, often ending a movie night with his boyfriend sprawled across him despite all the claims that Rui was the cuddly one. Well, that wasn’t untrue, but at least he was man enough to admit it. So Hiruma’s head in his lap wasn’t all that unusual, but Rui can’t think of a single instance of Hiruma actually falling asleep outside of his begrudging nightly requirement. The very last thing he wanted to do was wake him up. Thankfully he’d been scrolling through his phone when Hiruma’s weight had gone sleep-heavy across his legs, and Rui now had about a hundred pictures of his napping boyfriend, carefully snapped with the shutter noise muted, because much like staring a little too closely at an eclipse, he figured the reward of remembering this was well worth the risk. 

But now, after capturing every possible angle without actually shifting too much, Rui was at a bit of a loss. His need to fidget was growing, but Hiruma looked so relaxed, for the first time in, well, pretty much ever. He breathed out in warm, even puffs of air over Rui’s thigh, hands crossed loosely over his own midsection. His shoulders were curved in a relaxed line instead of tense, and one of his feet was rocking back and forth the tiniest bit like it was keeping time to some silent beat. Rui may or may not have a video of it, but he’d never tell and Hiruma certainly never needed to know. 

Rui chewed at his bottom lip, firmly reminding himself not to tap his foot restlessly, and silently tapped the tip of each finger to the tip of his thumb in time to Hiruma’s rocking foot. It helped a little bit, then his wrist brushed the tips of Hiruma’s spiked hair and he was surprised as always at how soft it was under the stiff crackle of hair gel. Hiruma was never still long enough for Rui to play with his hair, not without making it weird. It hit him now that he could, if he approached the opportunity like an animal trainer approached a feral tiger. With enough caution to get away with it, and enough idiocy to try in the first place. 

He brushed his thumb over the tip of one gelled spike, gently rolling the strands between his fingers until it felt more like soft hair than product. Hiruma’s hair was fine as a dandelion puff, all baby-soft wisps that Hiruma hated and hid under hair gel--and on truly lazy days, hats. Rui loved it, always wanted to bury his hands in it the moment Hiruma was out of the shower, hair fluffing up as HIruma toweled it dry in his usual aggressive manner. He didn’t know how to express that without fumbling the explanation and making Hiruma even more defensive since it was generally a fifty-fifty chance that a compliment would be taken as mockery with Hiruma. He didn’t dare touch more than that, but now he could run soft strands under his thumb, fascinated by the texture of them, every other restless thought fading away, and he felt his own shoulders losing a bit of the tension he always seemed to forget about until it was gone. It was almost as relaxing as napping himself, Hiruma’s warmth across his lap and against his hip, the soft quiet of the apartment around him, the way his breathing had slowed and nearly matched Hiruma’s at some point. It was nice. More than nice. 

He leaned back slowly, still gently petting at the small tuft of hair that was definitely no longer a spike by any definition, and tilted his head back against the couch cushions. For once, he wasn’t tired, he had a little too much energy to manage a nap, but if this was how Hiruma felt when Rui was asleep, then maybe he could see why his boyfriend kept agreeing to it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll never be free of this fandom and it'll never be free of me. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who is so kind as to read this, kudos, and leave comments! You are all the best!


End file.
